Design and Nature
The Wessex Institute of Technology organises a conference on Design and Nature, whilst WIT Press publishes the International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, both of which have attracted attention for the subject matter of some of the papers presented and published.
As a result of reaction to previous papers presented on the subject the editors added this statement to papers published by A.C. McIntosh in Volume 4 of the International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics in 2009.
“This paper presents a different paradigm than the traditional view. It is, in the view of the Journal, an exploratory paper that does not give a complete justification for the alternative view. The reader should not assume that the Journal or the reviewers agree with the conclusions of the paper. It is a valuable contribution that challenges the conventional vision that systems can design and organise themselves. The Journal hopes that the paper will promote the exchange of ideas in this important topic. Comments are invited in the form of ‘Letters to the Editor.”
Contributions to its International conference programme have included papers promoting intelligent design and creationism from Dominic Hassler, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Oral Roberts University, and a joint paper by Scott A. Minnich and Stephen C. Meyer reiterating claims disputing evolution of the bacterial flagellum. The latter paper was cited in the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District legal case, being the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design.
Doubts have been raised as to whether proper peer review has been followed for these conferences, this issue was, in particular, tested for the VIDEA conference in 1995, where several nonsensical abstracts were provisionally accepted for publication.
Read more about this topic: Wessex Institute Of Technology
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or nature:
“To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.”
—Marilyn French (20th century)
“People generally will soon understand that writers should be judged, not according to rules and species, which are contrary to nature and art, but according to the immutable principles of the art of composition, and the special laws of their individual temperaments.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)